Many digital cameras automatically tag photographs with the latitude and longitude of the location at which each picture is taken. This is true of both standalone digital cameras and digital cameras in phones and other devices. Additionally, even where a digital camera does not add geotags automatically, it commonly offers this feature to its users, many of whom elect to add this information to their photographs.
Having geotags present in digital photographs can be extremely useful for organization and browsing. However, many digital photographs containing geotags are shared online without users even realizing that they are exposing the locations at which the photographs were taken to the world. Although this is not an issue for photographs of well known or public locations (e.g., the Empire State Building or the Golden Gate Bridge), it can be a concern where private locations or individual people are photographed. For example, many users may not wish to make the exact location of their home or work place available online.
Sites exist which strip geotags from all photographs. However, this extreme can also be undesirable. As noted above, geotags are very useful, and in many cases do not create a privacy concern. Furthermore, even where a user does not wish to make an exact location public, it would still be desirable to obtain the organizational benefits provided by geotagging.
It would be desirable to address these issues.